Does playing mid come with a few unwritten laws in pub games?

[antelopes]

Occasionally I end up playing mid and when I do I treat it just as any other lane as in I'll call MIAs as they happen and let them know when it's back to normal. The only real difference is I'll help gank top/bottom sometimes.

The problem I have is, I guess in most games the mid laning char dictates when we should be moving from grinding/small scale ganks to pushing towers. I'm only rated 1500 (no dota exp) and well this concept is still a little lost on me.

My 6th sense for sensing danger is starting to develop but it's not at a point where I can comfortably make calls on when to push towers or defend.

Should I just avoid playing mid, or continue to play as is? I find that a lot of time when I join a random game with no locks (or at most 2 people locked) it's either a roflstomp by legion or HB. It's almost like 1 team is always super coordinated and rolls the opposition or 1 team is feeding like crazy and overall played terribly.

Is this a side effect of the mid player calling the shots?

[Strier]

Mid isnt about calling the shots (everyone has to do the MIA's and warnings, help calls).. its about who is going to have the head start in levels and gold.

IF you want to mid you should learn to last hit and deny, as well as having decent harassing skills, that way you can benefit the most from not sharing experience with another team mate.

The teams that are supercoordinated are, as you guessed, either PubSOBs or just a lucky bunch that communicate well.

[TreeHorse]

Generally one or two players will step up and act as the "captain" of the team.
Often it's the solo because, well, you're better off leaving the greater responsibility to a more capable player.

More often than not a successful gank around level 7-8 with 3-4 of your teammates in one lane results in a push. Esp if you have tempest or wildsoul on your team.
If you fail in your gank (which would have given you a power play) obviously pushing would be a bad idea.

To me, the only rule of soloing mid is this: Don't give up bloodlust to the enemy solo, as he's immediately going to gain a huge advantage over you as well as your lower-level allies in the side lanes.

If you rock mid and spread that positive influence to the side lanes by ganking, you will naturally sway the game in your team's favor.

[Darkstrand]

Yeah, there are some unwritten rules for solo mid.

Always check for runes when they spawn, and warn teammates should your opponent find a rune they can use to gank with.

Try to gank lanes whenever you can, especially when you find a strong rune like Haste or Invisibility.

[JewishNinja]

When you solo mid:
call out mias (you should know the direction as well since you'll generally be on the ledge but not pushed)
Either take rune advantage or give allies good notice. Also, use a flying courier to gain control of runes if opponents bottling, ****s em up considerably.
If you're laning middle, its tacit that you'll win the lane, since if you lose the lane considerably, your allies get ****ed.

[Icx]

and on pubs get a courier yourself, or get someone to get one for you.

Learn to micromanage it (so you don't get killed while you are busy doing it, or getting the courier killed) to bring a bottle back and forth between you and the well.

You do not want to leave mid to regen or get items imo when you have the option of a courier.

it also doesn't mean you have to start with a bottle.

On pubs I usually go courier (because hoping for someone else to get a courier for you is like hoping to see a meteor fall) + stats + runes. The runes then last untill I have gold for a bottle depending on how good the other player is.

[become_death]

If you're super-tryhard you can play with friends and convince them to spend their starting gold on a bottle for you. You then get your starting items (some sort of bracer components, generally) and the bonus of being able to bottle-whore and completely dominate the lane.

Note: do not try this with random pubs. They will only laugh and call you bad. The irony is staggering.

[Madlobster]

The role of the mid hero is to supress the other team and try to grow stronger earlier.
It is not to push, its rather trying not to push realy. Depending on the the hero you will need to fill different roles.
One of the things that are very important is rune controll, witch very well might result in Bloodlust or at the very least a gank in top/bot lane.

And just as important as ganking, is the art of supressing the other mid heros ganging. If you get to be dominant in the roaming, your team will have good map controll, and that is very very important to have once the first towers start to fall.

[antelopes]

My limited mid experiences so far have been nothing but good in the CK/CD area. Most of the time I feel like my opponent is just sitting there being really frustrated. If they are super aggressive I just hang back and CK/CD and let him waste mana by missing spells (pyro/vindicator) and then harass/kill him when he's vulnerable.

I don't really check for runes because I haven't seen a reason to. In every instance the other guy in mid doesn't check for them. If neither of us are checking and our side lanes are occupied then the runes are going no where?

I'll definitely look for them on my way to gank a lane though.

Haven't had a reason to go back to the pool too. Most of the time I have 2.5-3.5k on me before I even think about heading back and at this point everyone is level 8-13 and there's been at least one gank that I was involved in not counting 1v1 in mid.

Haven't used the courier too much but that's something I'm trying to work on. Usually when I buy it I find myself never using it.

Problems start to arrise when situations like this happen:

I'm in mid doing well, no problem. One of our guys at top dies, and during the fight one of the enemies up there are probably pretty hurt and heads back to town. Their mid is probably whining in team chat for help so now that guy goes to mid and it's 2v1 vs me. I do my best to keep things under control and inform the team, but now they have a guy soloing top because our top probably left to help in mid and then our guy respawns shortly after and either wanders off to top or comes to help in mid.

Their top either pushes our tower or helps in mid and then the game's pace seems to go past laning with us losing all initiative. If someone happened to die at bottom on our team and their bottom comes up for a 5 man mid push we're in really bad shape now. Then things just fall apart. Team mates start running around mindlessly or decide to split up and leave themselves open to be 3v1'd, etc. and it's basically game over.

What can you do to prevent such things happening while playing mid?

[Vinthian]

CS Well.

Check runes.

Don't die.

Call MIA.

If your opponent is MIA, GO MIA <= can't stress this enough.

GANK (pertains to last one).

[J0k3]

Not many heroes are suited for solo mid, the ones who DO often have a very powerfull core-build (items) which means you should know what to buy, therefor I see no reason for you to not use the couirer.
If you know what you want, just ship the pieces one by one, you dont have to save up money for the whole thing. A good tip is to use control groups for the couirer and your hero (hero=1, couirer=2). When you have a second to spare, click 2->B->click on what you need. Then click on the couirer skills "ferry items to owner->shift->return to base".
This might seem complicated, but when you are used to it it only takes a second. And it will allow you to have an advantage over the other mid-solo player unless he also has a couirer.
Some heroes really grow immensely with just a few items (or their lvl6 ulti), for heroes like that, I would recommend farming and not leaving the lane untill you reached it (im ofc not meaning you should farm every lux item and farm to lvl 16). Just for example, your playing bloodhunter, your lvl 5. Wait till 6 before ganking, your gona be so much more stronger, same with Arachna. (this ofc does not apply if you have the advantage because of a haste/invis rune)

[SimplyLime]

Mid does not really mean that you are the captain. But most of the time the mid/soloer is your carry and your initiator.

[Bobnintendo]

If your opponent is MIA, GO MIA <= can't stress this enough.


Do you mean that when the enemies are missing (propably going to gank you) you should be missing too. Okay that makes sense. I already have lots of DotA experience and I wouldn't consider myself a bad player but, my biggest problem is, what do I do when the others' are missing?

If I am low health, I of course go back, but if I am not low health? If I am max hp and there is a chance I am going to be ganked do I:

a) Go back to the base and lose lots of XP and Gold?
b) Go into the jungle and try to farm in the cover of the Fog?
c) Go gank other lanes?
d) Stay on the lane and try not to die when ganked?

(I'm not only asking about solo mid but all lanes in general)

[Granman]

The way I play it... dont attack enemy creeps in bot or top unless at base tower and dont attack enemy tower or rax in bot or top lane.

[sieneh]

If I am max hp and there is a chance I am going to be ganked do I:

a) Go back to the base and lose lots of XP and Gold?
b) Go into the jungle and try to farm in the cover of the Fog?
c) Go gank other lanes?
d) Stay on the lane and try not to die when ganked?

(I'm not only asking about solo mid but all lanes in general)

All of these are depending on the situation:

If you are missing a double stun combo, hugging the tower(if its early, like levels 5-7) and juking around the bottom tower MIGHT get you a kill, more often it will get you killed, good choice would be hiding in the bottom woods or going back, generally double stun combos will always result in a death of (at least) one from your team unless you destroy them in 3 seconds, so I would avoid counter ganking this combo with less than 3 people.

If you are missing a slow/stun combo, again, moving back would be a good choice or hiding, making a counter gank fast with another buddy or 2 is also good.

If you are missing a combo which has only 1 disable, you SHOULD be safe(early levels still, 4-9) around the tower so you can stay and farm/get xp, however this is a very rare case, most early ganks happen with some sort of strong nuke or stun(or both).

Most heroes can't tank a tower this early, only ones that comes to mind for tower tanking early are Sven, Zephyr with a lot of cyclones, but even then it won't last for more than 5-8 hits before they go to 50% hp or less.

[Glorify1]

Mid is the most important lane because it controls the runes, runes = ganks and deaths, so if you're playing mid a lot you have to be aware of the runes. Also, when playing from mid, you generally can see which way the enemy runs to go MIA, so you can be more specific in your mia calls. However, if you're calling mia and letting them get every rune it's just as bad as not calling mia at all.

It's not so much that they call the shots, anybody can say let's push, it's really based more on hero lineups and enemy hero lineups(something you won't understand for a long time, but you'll eventually get :P).

[_Archangel_]

If you're super-tryhard you can play with friends and convince them to spend their starting gold on a bottle for you. You then get your starting items (some sort of bracer components, generally) and the bonus of being able to bottle-whore and completely dominate the lane.

Note: do not try this with random pubs. They will only laugh and call you bad. The irony is staggering.

This forces your ally to start with no items at all, so while you may own your lane your ally will surely be harassed out of his in no time. Even in a serious game or with friends I would never do this. Asking for someone to buy you a Bottle in pubs is nothing short of a joke

[TreeHorse]

It's not so much that they call the shots, anybody can say let's push, it's really based more on hero lineups and enemy hero lineups(something you won't understand for a long time, but you'll eventually get :P).

Well - often the push can't succeed without the solo there to help :) that's what I meant.


This forces your ally to start with no items at all, so while you may own your lane your ally will surely be harassed out of his in no time. Even in a serious game or with friends I would never do this. Asking for someone to buy you a Bottle in pubs is nothing short of a joke

You can spend 200g on regen items for your buddy, and still have a bottle + 400g worth of stat items. Not that I endorse this strategy :) just saying.

[Crapload]

If you're super-tryhard you can play with friends and convince them to spend their starting gold on a bottle for you. You then get your starting items (some sort of bracer components, generally) and the bonus of being able to bottle-whore and completely dominate the lane.

Note: do not try this with random pubs. They will only laugh and call you bad. The irony is staggering.

Buy a courier. It will allow you to stay in your lane longer, especially if you're in mid because of the shorter distance. The courier will pay for itself by the exp and gold you will get, because of the time you save by using it.

[become_death]

Buy a courier. It will allow you to stay in your lane longer, especially if you're in mid because of the shorter distance. The courier will pay for itself by the exp and gold you will get, because of the time you save by using it.

Team-buying a bottle has nothing to do with time saved from a courier. It is a conscious design by an organized group of players to sacrifice some early game potential of one (of the two) teammates that will be duoing a side lane, in order to increase the chance of the guy soloing mid dominating his lane. The best case result here is that he dominates mid so hard that he's constantly forcing his opponent back to base to recover, while taking most/all of the last hits on the creepwaves. It is assumed that someone who's engaging in this strategy is smart enough to keep the runes covered by himself.

This works well on ranged heroes with a stun or heavy disable (andro, etc). Getting the 600g worth of stat items from your own starting money AND being able to constantly bottle regen yourself back up means you can harass the living **** out of your opponent and you win the lane.

You are relying on the guy who's starting with no items to be smart enough to duo effectively with his side lane partner and let his friend in mid lane give the team enough momentum to win.

[`aNarchy]

Well - often the push can't succeed without the solo there to help :) that's what I meant.



You can spend 200g on regen items for your buddy, and still have a bottle + 400g worth of stat items. Not that I endorse this strategy :) just saying.

What mode do you start with 1200 gold?

If you're playing to win start with a courier first, and then have him bring you the bottle. Your buddy doesn't need to buy anything for you or vice versa. I don't normally solo mid unless I have a hero to do so, and even then I only get a bottle on a select few anyway. With the arrival of the Mana Battery, I've been taking this over the bottle if i'm mid since it's cheaper and generally you'll be against a harrassing hero.

[TreeHorse]

What mode do you start with 1200 gold?

If you're playing to win start with a courier first, and then have him bring you the bottle. Your buddy doesn't need to buy anything for you or vice versa. I don't normally solo mid unless I have a hero to do so, and even then I only get a bottle on a select few anyway. With the arrival of the Mana Battery, I've been taking this over the bottle if i'm mid since it's cheaper and generally you'll be against a harrassing hero.

I was merely playing the devils advocate to another poster's strategy of having a teammate buy you a bottle (your 600g goes to stat items, his 600g goes to the bottle)

I also endorse the courier + stats/regen route over a bottle-first build. Mana battery is so clutch for Soul Reaper....love it.

[desmondzki]

Mid = rune control for me.

If I'm going mid, I'd make sure I have a courier first, runes and those mana pots (if my hero relies on skills). Try my best to outfarm/deny, using skills to gain gold for a bottle, and of course, the courier checking the runes every 2-minute mark. You should have a bottle on or before the 3-minute mark of the game.

Oh, and of course tell your teammates if you're ganking a lane, or if your enemy at mid is missing.

Main problem with this is, if your teammates doesn't tell you when heroes at their lane in MIA. Learn to look at the mini-map to avoid this.

And try ganking or killing the mid enemy hero if you get a haste/invi rune. Gives you the gold and exp advantage.

[Coolica]

In a pub, any hero can solo mid if you are capable. Chances are, none of your other teammates are capable enough to solo mid, even though they have a strong mid hero.

[Ruscour]

Mid does not really mean that you are the captain. But most of the time the mid/soloer is your carry and your initiator.

This is untrue. Initiators and carries (heroes you want to get as much gold as possible, quickly) will be in the top/bottom lane with a babysitter.

The only carries that should be soloing mid are Blood Hunter, invis heroes, Andro, MQ, and Arachna. And the melee heroes should only solo mid if they have a brain.

[Sai]

pubs?

farmfarmfarmfarmfarmfarmfarmfarmfarmfarmfarmfarmfa rmfarmfarmfarmfarm

[sieneh]

The only carries that should be soloing mid are Blood Hunter, invis heroes, Andro, MQ, and Arachna. And the melee heroes should only solo mid if they have a brain.

As funny as it sounds, I find Hammer one of the "best" melee heroes for mid(apart from BH), simply because he has early damage, coupled with an axe, you're hitting creeps for 80-90 at level 1.

You can keep "attacking" the enemy hero, to keep the creeps near your tower, which results in early farming, galvanize gives you 30ish MS and is great for bottling runes, his stun is good for harassing and farming at the same time.
His big con for mid however, is his low mana pool, though this can be remedied by getting a talisman/stats at 4(you should be maxing stats whenever you can after you have your stun maxed anyway)

[Loosance]

Maliken and madman are better on mid in my opinion; Btw i don't see the point of having a hammerstorm mid when you can have him in lane.

[sieneh]

Maliken and madman are better on mid in my opinion; Btw i don't see the point of having a hammerstorm mid when you can have him in lane.

Yes, they are, maliken because of his staying/harassing and madman because of the ability to rune race and harass.

I play AR(a lot), thats mostly how I "found" out that Hammer works okish in mid ;p

Theres really no point in letting him go mid, all he needs is 7 for his maxed out stun, rest are just stats and occasional ulti level up.